Retrospective of the Planning of the 2005 Retrospective

Attendees: Linda, Ainsley, III, Ellen, Rachel, Tim, Gerhardt, Siegi, Chrystina, Tim, John, Diana

Planning Team: Linda, Ellen, Chrystina, Debra, Ainsley, Jerry, Diana

• Our monthly meetings
• Virtual meetings we used for our planning sessions
• The abundance of food
• Inviting previous attendees first
• Norm and Peggy being here
• Norm doing the opening night.

• Having a planning meeting when we first arrived
• Planning committee (PC) daily huddle
• Be “fault tolerant” with bios – have a way to check in about bios and coordinating – use the WIKI for bios.
• have a list of food for ordering, supplies, checklist of things we need to remember. (Put in on the wiki) which should include: projector, printer, public laptop (for people who didn’t bring one), doing Wednesday afternoon sightseeing, local attractions/descriptions for people to read, coordinating rides/transportation and roommates
• Ask for books for library and also ask people to remember to bring pictures of retrospectives
• Ask conveners to do mini-retrospective after each session
• Ask conveners to leave an empty chair for bumblebees
• Distribute bios ahead of time
• First day Opener: use an activity to integrate new people (e.g. sociogram, inter-relationship map, etc.) that will allow us to learn how people heard about us, who knows who, how each of us “got here”
• Explain more upfront about Open Space is about Link to Open Space Info – important for newbies
• Be able to know what we can offer people (e.g. Norm and Peggy) coming ‘gratis’ (we are paying). Have a limit of what we can spend.
• Track the numbers re costs moving forward
• Conduct a Retrospective Training class as a fundraiser before the gathering
• Do short morning appreciations beginning on wed (tues is too soon); some thought having them on Tues would be good as a model for new folks - we like the brief morning appreciations we did in Baden (2004)
• Beautiful settings, lots of places to meet
• Have a time for new exercise practice and feedback.
• Add to confirmation letter types of sessions (try session, broad question, new concept to share, problems to solve, etc. – and look at wiki of past years)
• Tim’s bar: Place to go for drinks and consulting, drinking etc. in the evenings

• Timing was off: we couldn’t do afternoon energizers and didn’t have much time for openers in the a.m. after morning news
• Where we were going to put our ‘stuff’
• Boris volunteering to put up the wiki
• The session info is getting populated already!
• We don’t know if we have enough money to pay for this!

• Jerry’s numbers for estimating what to charge.
• How could I be everywhere?!
• There were no changes to the Open Space Market Place
• There were a lot of big sessions, vs. smaller groups
• There a lot of good ideas for topics that didn’t get into the Market Place
• How we manage the paradox of simultaneously growing the community and keeping an intimate community
• No ethnic diversity in this group

• Depending on the space – 100-150 people might be our long term maximum, eventually
• Slow growth - let's be careful not to grow too quickly
• Near term (next few years), we think about 60 people is the maximum number which could be used to test the persistence of intimacy; look for attendance of 25-40 in 2006.
• Need to factor in balance between new people with returning people; often the new folks want to come because it will give them access to the more experience, and more experienced often want to mingle with each other and hear the new ideas new folks bring
• Having the appropriate space
• We have a risk of success!
  • Be sure the invitation initially says “please don’t forward this yet”
• Do we need criteria for attendees?
• Tuesday and Thursday were loaded with sessions, and there was only one on Wednesday. Should we have time blocks for two morning and two afternoon sessions? (Whether we have both afternoon sessions or not.) Re-look at how the Open Space Market Place is set up (so there is a nice balance of sessions). Two sessions on wed am. before sightseeing (if we keep that).
• Be sure all the rooms are set up with materials.
• Continue wed afternoon through evening free time - maybe the same, maybe start a bit later
• Some free time each afternoon
• Planning committee needs to be onsite the day ahead of time for last minute details.
• Pin walls !!! Ask Neuland for pin walls
• (didn’t like): Having wireless access (mixed blessing) ?? maybe not look for that next year. Though having internet access nearby is a plus.
• see if we can have the whole place to ourselves and has a lot of locations for sessions
• daily Open Space themes weren’t useful, and maybe were inhibiting.
• Get links to “how to get a conference if you can’t pay” and how to justify it to management. Ask john Suzuki for the links.
• Next year program committee: Jutta, Linda, Siege, Boris, Mauri, Ainsley, Tim.
• Gathering needs to be where you stay.
• Provide clear expectations about prices and what the costs are. Be aware of fluctuation of the dollar.

• How much money should she target: (amount per person). Typically, the ceiling is $200 (~150 euros) for registration. It has been the same for four years, could go up a bit next year but not much
• Need to know if the hotel/conference center charges for things like coffee, water service, etc.
• Last year costs were acceptable to those from US who came last year. 5 nights in the Schloss Weikersdorff was about $700 (62 euros a night per person) for two people in a room with some meals included (excluded airfare, incidentals and registration). Air could be $1000 US for Germany.
• Recommend no more than 75-80 euros per person a night including breakfast, if you can find it
• Closer to Frankfort is better, since there are less airport hops.
• Time of year: when snow goes away! Shoulder season…before high season. Early may/late april.
• Rates depend on the number of people. Last year had 25, had 29 this year. Target 25-35. Remember that people can share rooms.
• Europe calculates per person . Be sure to tell people that!!